Collateral
by Out-of-Character217
Summary: Cloud's past arrives one night to catch up with him, leaving Leon in the cross fire as collateral damage. Prompt by istoleyourcheesecake.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: **This is the result of a prompt from istoleyourcheesecake, who wanted something with guns and violence. I hope I hit the nail on the head.

I dunno bout you guys, but I feel like maybe this could go somewhere? Maybe a two parter?

In any case, read and enjoy. Credit to istoleyourcheesecake for the inspiration. The song lyrics belong to Lorde, original song belongs to Tears for Fears. Xxx

* * *

'_Welcome to your life.  
There's no turning back  
Even while we sleep  
We will find you…_

_There's a room where the light won't find you  
Holding hands while the walls come tumbling down  
When they do I'll be right behind you_

_So glad we've almost made it_  
_So sad they had to fade it_  
_Everybody wants to rule the world'_

Everybody Wants To Rule The World – Lorde.

**Collateral**

It wasn't unusual for Cloud to be late home, but it was rare and forty five minutes was pushing it. Vague anxiety knotted itself in Leon's stomach. Gravel crunching underfoot, he walked quickly along the quiet backstreet taking a few shortcuts he knew well to get to the Engine Shed, a squat, sheet metal lean-to building in the industrial part of town. He knew it was closed for the night – he had seen Cid already, Cloud's colleague being the sort of person that like to keep order and time, if only so he could maximise his hours at the bar. Leon had waited for him there, the same as he'd done every weeknight for the last three years, and when numerous calls to Cloud's cell had failed to throw any light on the blond's whereabouts, that small, innocuous tug of unease began to grow and feel uncomfortable.

Leon rounded a leaf-blown corner, a chill wind freezing the tip of his nose and the points of his ears as he hunkered down into his scarf and hunched his shoulders, balling his fists deeper into his pockets and waited for the Shed to come into view behind the slatted fence.

Light spilled out from under the large sliding doors in a soft arc, illuminating and shadowing the modest forecourt. The tarmac was oil stained and wet, leaf mulch gathered up in the corners but it was otherwise empty. The office light was out showing that it was empty, but the diffused light from the garage itself, shining through the murky windows told Leon that someone was in there. It should have given the brunet a moderate amount of relief: it was obviously Cloud. Yet a heavy disquiet still sat in the pit of his stomach.

Crossing the forecourt, he reached the smaller door set into the larger sliding runner and pulled the handle, hearing the click of the latch and the rattle of the corrugated iron. He stepped inside, ducking a little and was about to pull the door closed behind him when he froze on the threshold, his hand tightening on the handle.

He had found Cloud, but who the other five men were, he had no idea.

'Leon, what are you doing here?' Cloud asked, the question a little too sharp, a little too nervous to be considered casual.

'You're late.' Leon explained, still not letting go of the door handle, one leg inside the Shed, one leg still in the forecourt. His eyes darted to each of the men, quickly evaluating them before they settled on Cloud. He didn't like the way they were all spread out, one sitting casually on the work benches, one leaning up against the back wall, rifling through a filing cabinet – though his snooping had stopped momentarily to assess the newcomer that had interrupted them.

'I'll be home in a little while, just wait for me there.' Cloud replied quickly, his deep voice undermined by a touch of panic. You wouldn't have noticed it, but Leon had known Cloud a fair while and he had never heard him sound like that before.

'What's going on, Cloud?' against his better judgement, Leon stepped the rest of the way into the Shed and closed the door behind him.

'Nothing, just do as I-'

'So this is the little wifey.' the man nearest to Cloud said, a casual smile breaking across his face that made Leon feel anything but at ease. The man wasn't old, but his greying, salt and peppered hair made his age impossible to determine. He was broad and heavy looking, with a rounded stomach and powerful looking hands. Neatly dressed in a black shirt and a dark felt overcoat, black slacks and polished dress shoes, he was out of place in the oil stained, grimy workshop. Stood next to Cloud, he was tall and imposing and that knot of apprehension that had been twisting in Leon's stomach was now a full blown siren.

'What's going on? Who is he, Cloud?' Leon asked, turning back to look at the blond, who had his eyes trained on the tall man, tension obvious in every line of his face.

'My name is Angelo Diego, and I'm not surprised Cloud here hasn't told you about me, you see,' Diego took a step towards Leon, his manner relaxed and casual with an undercurrent of something altogether dangerous and sinister running just below the surface. 'He's in a lot of trouble.'

Cloud moved, following Diego's steps with a flash of panic in his eyes, only to be stopped by a large hand in the centre of his chest; the fourth man, big and bald and just as immaculately dressed as Diego had moved across Cloud's path, blocking him from view for a split second.

Leon took a step back.

'What are you talking about?' Leon returned, swallowing back thick and bitter dread; it tasted like iron and ozone on his tongue.

'Not very smart this one, Cloud, but he's pretty. I'll give you that much.' Diego said flippantly over his shoulder. The comment made Cloud's brows furrow in anger, his jaw visibly clenching.

'He's got nothing to do with this, Diego. Just let him go.' Cloud ignored the hand against his chest, though he didn't attempt to push past it. His eyes were still hard and focused, trained on Diego, his whole body ridged and tense.

Diego turned back to Leon, his smile slipping low. The brunet starred back and when the large man spoke again it wasn't to him, but to Cloud, who Leon could see just over Diego's shoulder and behind the bald man, that hand still placed firmly against Cloud's chest.

'You've known me a long time, Cloud. You know that's not how this works.'

The moment Cloud began to struggle – his futile attempts to get past the huge bald man wild and ferocious - Leon's heart leapt into his mouth, his pulse beating painfully in his neck as every instinct in him told him to run. The fifth man, stood to Leon's left and way at the back of the shop had skirted around and closed in on the brunet while Diego had been talking, and as if from nowhere Leon found himself slammed up against the metal door, an arm across his throat as a hand seized his left wrist. He was turned sharply and slammed back into the door, his wrist pulled sharply up into the middle of his back and the wind was forced from his lungs as a weight pressed up against him; a fist in his hair jerked his head back into his neck.

Feeling his panic stiffen his limbs, making it hard for him to process his alarm, Leon was dragged away from the door. A foot came down into the back of his knee, crumpling the brunet to the ground and twisted his arm higher up into his back. The hand in his hair pulled back sharply and as he opened his eyes he found himself on his knees, looking up into Diego's face, the weak and insipid light from the naked bulbs in the garage's ceiling silhouetting the giant above him.

'DIEGO!' Cloud shouted. 'Diego I swear to god if you hurt him I'll kill you!'

He couldn't see him, but Leon heard Cloud, his voice high and panic stricken and somewhere off towards the back of the shop. Leon blinked hard, the light from the bulbs overhead making it hard to see around him when the flash of something metal glinted in his peripheral and then something hard and cold was pressed between his lips.

'You should have run further, Cloud. You should have been better at hiding.' Diego remarked, turning his body aside, giving Cloud a perfect view of Leon on his knees with a gun in his mouth.

A terrible, animalistic rage erupted in Cloud at the sight and he let out a guttural growl of rage as he struggled harder, kicking out with his legs, trying to break the hold the massive man behind him had on his arms. He'd break them out of his sockets if he had to.

'You want money?!' Cloud yelled, his chest heaving with toxic, fiery wrath. 'I can get you money, just let him go.'

Diego looked back over his shoulder, the line of his arm still dangerous and deadly, his thumb poised to cock the gun.

'Don't insult me by making this about money. This was _never_ about money. This is about integrity – honesty. This is about _loyalty_, Cloud. You know what loyalty means?'

Cloud's eyes flicked to Leon and saw the terror in his lover's eyes. He nodded his head.

'You say you do,' Diego replied, his eyes hard. 'But to me, loyalty means keeping your mouth shut. Loyalty means remembering whose side you're on. Loyalty means not _ratting_ someone out to save your own skin!' Diego's voice had grown louder. The subtle and intangible curtain that had hidden his volatile character had shifted, allowing glimpses of the dangerous man underneath and Cloud needed no reminding of exactly what this maniac was capable of. Cloud wasn't a man prone to begging or pleading. He had considered it to be a weakness and a waste of time. If your number was up, it was up, and where he came from, that number came up in the form of a gun or a knife to the back when you were least expecting it. Begging had been useless to all those people he'd been sent to deal with – to all those people he'd watched die. But he'd be damned if he'd just sit back and watch it happen to Leon. He'd get down on his own knees and kiss the soles of Diego's feet if he had to.

'I was just a kid, Diego. What did you expect me to do? They were going to put me away for life if I didn't promise to help them.' He tried to reason.

Diego's eyes darkened, his mouth turning down at the edges and Cloud's heart froze – knowing that look. The man removed the gun from Leon's mouth, changing the trajectory of his arm, shifting it to the left and down a bit and pulled the trigger. The shot rang out, loud, deafening, echoing around the tinny room, drowning out Cloud's desperate shout and Leon's cry of pain as the bullet ripped through the brunet's shoulder.

Leon sagged to the floor, the man behind him letting go of his arm and hair as he was effectively neutralised with pain.

Feral panic, hard and cold ceased Cloud's struggling and he stood, immobile, rooted to the spot, his eyes wide with disbelief and pain.

'You know I don't tolerate excuses. Don't insult me with them.' Diego said darkly, his soft words loud in the aftermath. Cloud heard them, their meaning resonating deep within him as he watched Leon squirm helplessly on the cold concrete, drops of his blood splashing on to the oil stains.

'Please,' Cloud heard himself whisper, unable to take his eyes off of the brunet quietly gasping and moaning in pain. 'Don't hurt him.'

'I'd say we're a little late for that.' Diego replied.

The man's words had an awakening effect on the blond. Like a head breaking the surface of water, he came back to himself, snapping his eyes back to the tall man. He felt that impotent rage again.

'What do you want?' he asked, preparing to sacrifice anything; prepared to beg for anything.

'Six years.' Diego replied lowly, his eyes steady and dark and resolute. 'Your betrayal cost me six years. I want them back.'

'I can't do that. You know I can't. Hurting Leon isn't going to change a damn thin-'

'If you give me one more excuse I'm gonna put a bullet in your faggot boyfriend's stomach and you can watch him die, slowly and painfully. Do you understand me?' Diego interrupted him, lifting the gun again and pointed it at Leon, who had managed to stay conscious and had pressed a hand to his shoulder, stemming the flow of blood until it was just a trickle, running over his fingers in claret rivulets. The threat barely registered. Somewhere between Diego and his men entering his workshop and Leon stumbling into the mix he had resigned himself to someone dying tonight. No one received a visit from Angelo Diego and lived. Four years of stealing cars, running drugs and killing in the mobster's name had proven that much to Cloud. Yet in his naivety, in his futile hope that he had left all of that behind, hoping that he had run far and long enough, he had forgotten. It was easy to forget really. Too easy.

'So what do you want from me?' Cloud asked, his patience beginning to run thin.

'I already told you: Six years. I want you to learn what it's like to watch those years go by without you. I want you to learn how precious they are. I want you to feel how maddening it is, knowing that each day you're losing more and more of your life as you sit and rot.' Diego lowered the gun and stepped over Leon, bending down to grab a fist full of his hair and forced him onto his knees.

Leon gave a muffled cry of pain, the sound leaking out from behind gritted teeth as he balanced himself precariously, his right arm dangling uselessly at his side as blood dripped from the ends of his fingers. To the man's credit, he struggled; wrenching away the mobster's grip on his hair with an elbow to his thigh. Diego stumbled, letting out a soft curse before bringing the butt of the gun down across the back of Leon's head, making the brunet grunt in pain and bowl over, clutching the back of his neck in agony. With an angry snarl, Diego gripped Leon's hair again, pulling him back into a kneeling position and pointed the gun back at his head.

'Leon, don't. Just… keep still.' Cloud implored, unable to catch the brunet's eye.

'This is insane, Diego. I'll give you whatever you want, just please… let him go!' he added, sensing that he was fast running out of time.

'Whatever I want?' Diego laughed, his amusement quickly turning into a snarl as he jerked on Leon's hair, whipping his head back harder. 'I want you to pick: Six people, starting with this one. Six people in your life that mean the most to you and I want you to watch as I take them all away from you.'

A terrible emotion swept over Cloud in that moment: Hopelessness. He realised he was giving up – resigning himself to this. His trigger happy, streetwise, quick-fire brain had stalled, and in a desperate moment of fluttering, useless panic, it dawned on him he had no way out. Diego hadn't come here to kill him. He had come here to _destroy _him.

He looked at Leon, who was pale and terrified and he felt his heart break. His lover had been his turning point – his waking moment. Leon had walked into his life, his unassuming and quiet nature drawing Cloud to him despite the blond's best efforts to keep himself away. He had been powerless to stop himself from falling for Leon – his goodness, his honesty, his simple, enigmatic kindness. The man had been nothing like his previous lovers. He was a writer, private and introspective, clever and gentle, stubborn and proud. He had been the opposite of everything that Cloud had been moulded into. Cloud was rough and uncouth, uneducated and tempestuous. He was filled with dark and unspeakable things and he had known that all of those things could have pushed Leon away, but they hadn't. The brunet had persisted. Leon had been his balm. He had made him feel worth something. He had made all of the terrible things Cloud had done seem like a lifetime ago and for a while there, he had lived his life not through the eyes of the stupid, reckless, seventeen year old kid he had been, but through the eyes of the man who had loved him enough to accept him. Without asking or accusing or judging, Leon had taken Cloud into his life and loved him. If Diego killed Leon tonight, there would be no need to take anyone else. Cloud's life would already be over. There was no one else that mattered to him more than Leon.

'If you kill him,' Cloud began, his voice low and dangerous, his eyes flicking to Diego, full of malevolent anger. 'If you kill him and leave me alive, I won't ever stop. I'll find you. I'll kill every man you put in my way until I find you. And I promise you, you'll die. After you've suffered enough, you'll die.'

Diego smiled. It was cold and humourless, his lips tight and waxen over his yellowed teeth as he grinned at Cloud, enjoying the man's rage and fear and horror.

'Who said anything about leaving you alive?'

A shot rang out, ripping a desperate cry from Cloud's lips as he flinched and felt his heart tear itself from his chest. Everyone stilled, the room thrown into silent chaos as Cloud's eyes darted about until they finally settling back on Diego who had gone pale and ridged, his eyes glassy and vacant as a slow trickle of blood tracked its way down the middle of his eyebrows and dripped off the end of his nose.

Cloud watched as the man collapsed, his eyes catching the small bullet wound in his forehead before he hit the ground. He spun his gaze around to his left and saw, over his shoulder, a small girl stood in the doorway of the darkened office, her frightened little face pale and immobile with shock as she held the gun in her trembling hands.

'Marlene!'

Cloud felt the grip on his arms go slack and taking advantage of his moment, he twisted to the side, ducking under the great hulk of the man behind him and out of his reach. Snatching the gun from the girl's fingers he threw her backwards, slamming the door closed as a huge weight crashed into his back, knocking him sideways and into a steel cabinet. He grunted with pain, shaking his head quickly to clear his vision and slammed his elbow back, the sharp angle connecting with the soft, fleshy stomach of the man behind him. The weight lifted, and Cloud twisted his torso, raising the handle of the gun above the back of the man's head and brought it down across his exposed skull. The man dropped like a sack of bricks.

Flicking his eyes around the room, he counted the three other men, still planted, immobile with shock where they had been stood only seconds ago. Picking one, he lifted his arm and took aim, squeezing the trigger evenly as the man in his sight realised a fraction too late, his eyes widening as they gazed down the barrel of the gun. The shot went off, a fine spray of blood spattering the metal sliding door behind him and the man dropped, his body collapsing on top of Diego's in an awkward heap.

The two remaining men bolted. The one that had been lounging idly against the workbench drew his gun, in too much of a rush to aim properly and he let off a few rounds, the bullets going wide and echoing off somewhere above Cloud's right ear. The blond flinched down behind the cabinet, waiting for the man to run past and expose himself before he stood again, levelling his arm at the man and pulled the trigger.

The sound of the metal door banging open wide, blowing uselessly in the slight breeze brought Cloud back, a large gulp of air rushing through his nose as he blinked away the red mist that had blinded him for those painfully long seconds. The last man had run, letting the chilly autumn night into the floodlit workshop. He stood on shaking legs, unable to get them to move just yet as he lowered the gun and let it drop. The clatter was loud in the deafening silence and as he drew in large, shaking breaths, he looked about himself, down at the man splayed out face down on the concrete, at his blood pooling around his head and felt a rising sickness.

The garage was still. Three men lay dead and another unconscious behind him and with a trembling hand he ran it through his hair. Out of the corner of his eye Cloud caught a movement and the dark material of Leon's leather jacket. His stasis was broken, his pounding heart thudding back into life as he stumbled over to the older man, huddled against the wall, still clutching his arm.

The brunet's face was snow white, his eyes large and glassy and tight with pain. He flinched the moment Cloud put his hands on him, his lips pulled back into a hiss of agony. Looking up through watery eyes at the stranger knelt above him, Leon felt him place his hands to his cheeks, heard him call his name, but nothing registered.

'Leon!' Cloud called again, shaking him slightly.

The brunet mumbled something, his mouth working unintelligently as he tried to speak; a bloodied hand that had been pressed to his shoulder reached up to rip the blond's fingers from his face.

'Marlene!' he choked out, his pinpoint bright eyes sliding to the door behind them both.

Cloud followed his gaze, cursing under his breath as he took in the bullet holes in the plywood and he stood, rushing over to throw the door open. In the diarkness behind it, a small figure in white pyjamas sat huddled under the desk, her hands over her ears as she sat sniffling and cowering.

Cloud rushed into the room, knocking aside the swivel chair and reached under the desk to pull her out, crushing her to him in a breath of relief.

'What were you doing down here?' Cloud gasped, his eyes filling with helpless tears as her little arms snaked around his neck and hung on tightly.

'I heard noises.' she offered in a small, trembling voice.

Cloud allowed himself a few seconds for the fear of what could have happened to wash over him, before he gathered it together and stomped it down.

'Where's your daddy?' he asked her, pulling away just a fraction to look into her large terrified eyes.

'I don't know. He wasn't upstairs and I heard a loud bang and I got scared. Why were those men here?' large fat tears broke over her lashes and fell heavily down her ash white cheeks. Cloud tucked her head back under his chin and fought his own.

'Don't worry about that now. We need to get help.'

He cast his eyes about, desperately seeking the whereabouts of the office phone and finding it, he snatched it up, carrying both it and the little girl back out into the workshop.

* * *

The police found Barret outside, unconscious and bleeding from a head wound, but alive. The paramedics that had swarmed the forecourt of the Engine Shed lifted him onto a stretcher, tightening the oxygen mask around his face as they strapped his gurney in and prepared to take him back to Hollow Bastion General. Marlene had been taken back upstairs, Tifa volunteering to stay with her until the morning when they would visit the hospital and check on her father. The police would need to question her at some point, but for the time being they'd plenty of work on their hands.

'Look, I'll answer your questions. I'll come with you and you can take as long as you want. But right now you need to let me go with him.' Cloud ground out, pushing against the restraining hand of one officer as he tried to get to where Leon was being strapped to a gurney.

'You're not going anywhere. I've got three dead bodies and three in the hospital and you're my only witness above seven years old. So sit down, take a breath and tell me what the hell happened.' The officer said, placing his hands against Cloud's shoulders and forced him back into the workbench.

Cloud staggered back. His exhaustion and fear had drained him and while under any other circumstances, the officer would have lost a couple of teeth with that move, Cloud had enough sense to know that he had to keep his cool.

'You don't understand he's my partner; we live together. I have to go with him.' Cloud shot back, his eyes dark and serious, edged with his all-but-spent anger.

The two officers gave each other a snide, derogatory look, curling their lip at Cloud who couldn't have given a rat's ass at that point what they thought. He just needed them to let him go.

'Fine, but you'll be escorted by one of our officers. Once he's stable, you'll be brought in for questioning.'

Cloud didn't bother to thank them, he pushed past and raced to the crowd of paramedics gathered around a stretcher, one holding an IV bag up high as the others tightened the straps that secured Leon.

The brunet was awake, his heavy lidded eyes glassy and vacant, the oxygen mask obscuring his face as Cloud came up beside him, raking his concerned gaze up and down his battered, blood spattered form.

'Leon?' he called gently. 'Lee, can you hear me?' he softly ran a thumb over the brunet's brow, and watched as he squeezed his eyes shut, clearing his vision, before opening them again and settled his gaze on the blond.

'You've got… a lot of… explaining… to do.' Leon replied sluggishly.

Cloud couldn't help it. Tears of relief flooded his eyes and he laughed. Sniffing away his unwanted emotions, he wiped his nose with the back of his hand and continued to gently stroke a thumb against Leon's temple.

'Okay let's go. Let's get him in!' a medic shouted off to Cloud's side, pulling the stretcher across the forecourt as they all bundled into the back of the ambulance. Once the doors where closed and the gurney secured, Cloud settled himself on the seat by Leon's head and reached down to grasp Leon's blooded hand, careful to avoid the IV line that was attached to it.

'I guess this… explains a lot.' Leon murmured as the engine started up. 'I never did… understand why you were… so difficult to talk to.' He smiled crookedly to himself as he let his eyes slide closed, morphine and the residue of fear making him sleepy.

Cloud recalled the many times in the past when they'd argued about him and his refusal to talk. About his dark, secretive soul and how shut out Leon had felt because of it. Those times left Cloud feeling empty, yet full of regret.

'I was an asshole.' He said, knowing every word was true.

'You were mysterious.' Leon corrected him, opening one eye a crack and lifting the corner of his mouth in that lazy sardonic smile that Cloud loved so much. 'I kind of liked it… Made you dangerous.'

Cloud gave a soft, wet hiccup, his shame and guilt convulsing his chest as he fought down the rising tears.

'Guess… guess I had no idea, huh?!' Leon managed to quip, even in his battered state.

'I'm so sorry, Leon.' Cloud managed to say, his bravado crumbling beneath him as he grasped Leon's hand between both of his and brought it to his forehead, pressing the fingers to his skin and relishing in their warmth. Leon was _alive_. Nothing else mattered.

'Would you… would you really have… gone after him? If he'd… if he'd killed me…' Leon asked, turning his head and opened his eyes to stare at Cloud. The blond lifted his head and settled his teary gaze on Leon, the orbs sharp and full of deadly warning. He nodded slowly, never blinking, impressing all of his rage and fear and promise into the gesture.

Leon wasn't sure how he felt about Cloud's answer. His mind was muddled and scattered, mercifully disconnected from his body, but he knew he wasn't upset by it. Cloud's silent determination – the promise he'd seen in his eyes – was oddly comforting. He'd never want to be caught in that situation again, but knowing Cloud had been there, seeing the anger in his eyes, he was strangely reassured. Leon was positive it was the morphine talking.

Letting that heavy implication settle between them, Leon said no more and closed his eyes. Letting sleep and sedation claim him, the last thing he heard before unconsciousness took him was Cloud's voice, promising to be there when he woke.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** You will not believe how long I have been working on this chapter. It feels like forever! Life is still as manic as ever. My husband's situation hasn't changed and my brother and niece still live with us. I've started my second year at university this month and to top it all off, I got a promotion which means more work. Not that it's a bad thing, you understand. I've been working hard for one for the last three years and it's a wonderful feeling to finally be recognised.

Still, this has been so super enjoyable to write despite how long it's taken me. I'm afraid I can't promise speedy updates to any of my stories for the meanwhile, due to the shit storm that is life at the moment. But I do promise to work little and often to get at least something out each month.

I hope you enjoy this. Chapter three will be out as soon as I can write it. xxx

* * *

"_Someday my pain,  
Someday my pain will mark you…_

_With the wild wolves around you,  
In the morning, I'll call you."_

The Wolves – Bon Iver.

**The Beginning**

Leon sat down in his usual seat, ordered his usual coffee - black, no sugar - opened his book and began to read. The bar was quiet for a Friday evening, but he knew it wouldn't stay that way. He liked this time of the day, just after normal business hours and before the swarm of pleasure seekers and binge drinkers descended. It was a kind of in between time, an ambiguous, indefinable hour – like a short breath being drawn before the deep rush of the night time – and Leon liked the strangeness of it.

The sound of a passing car rose and then fell away as the door was opened and closed and without looking up from his book, yet aware of his surroundings, Leon sensed two men walk behind him and sit down at the other end of the bar. Recognising Cid's voice, Leon mentally checked off the older man's arrival - the same time every day - and carried on reading.

The comings and goings of Seventh Heaven's regulars had become a part of his own routine, the regularity in everyday life appealing to Leon's meticulous nature and even though he sometimes found himself sighing with vague frustration, he overcame the monotony of his structured life the same way he overcame most things: by simply getting on with it.

Glancing up briefly he caught sight of Cid and the man he was sat next to and immediately did a double take, catching himself by surprise with the ridiculous action.

The man was blond and pale, with deep blue eyes. He was well made, with long muscled arms and broad hands that were grimy with oil stains, matching the overalls that he wore tied at his waist. The grubby once-white wife beater signalled that he was probably a mechanic of some sort and an educated guess told Leon that he was most likely Barret's newest recruit, over at the Engine Shed.  
Leon traced his eyes back to the man's face and felt the rhythm of his heart miss a beat as he met the cerulean blue stare of the blond he had only just realised he'd been staring at. Snapping his gaze quickly back to his book, he tried very hard to fight off the rising blush that was steadily creeping across his cheeks. Feeling the weight of the man's stare on him, Leon bore his eyes into the page, putting a concerted effort into looking like he was paying him no mind at all. Once he was sure the blond man's gaze had moved off, Leon braved a sip of his coffee. A few seconds later however, his line of sight had inexplicably returned to the grubby newcomer.

Like a covert spectator at a game of tennis that only he could see, his eyes flicked from the man sat on the other side of the room and then back to his book again, the words on the page beginning to lose their original meaning and after the twelfth time of trying to read the same sentence, Leon gave up, resigning himself to the ridiculous notion that he was now using the book as a convenient cover for ogling the blond.

He had to admit, though, that warm flutter of attraction felt nice. It had been a long time since Leon had found himself interested in anyone, even remotely. Not since... Well, not since his last ill-fated endeavour into romance. Ending his rather unremarkable, rather tepid two year relationship with Rinoa had been, by extremes, a very messy and very emotional affair. At least it had been for her. But that had been almost a life time ago, and Leon had forgotten what it had even felt like to be stirred to more than just a nebulous curiosity. Leon certainly found himself wondering more about this man than just his favourite colour.

From his fleeting, two second glances he had deduced that he wasn't much of a talker. He had sat next to Cid and listened to the old man grumble on for the last twenty minutes, quietly sipping from his bottle of beer and nodding occasionally; casually scraping a grimy finger against a pale cheek or rubbing an imagined ache at his brow as he conversed in low hushed tones. His fingertips had left faint stains on his cheek and temple and Leon found himself, quite disturbingly, obsessing with them.

He was, overall, a tidy person; he had been from early childhood, and the sight of mess and clutter had always sent him into an anxiety, its degree dependent upon the size and severity of the mess created. The sight of this man, filthy from an obvious hard day's work, made Leon feel equal parts besotted and obsessively compulsive. Even now he could feel his fingers itching to clean the man's face - to offer him a wet towel - anything to assuage his irritated inner critic. Yet the attractiveness of him couldn't be undermined by any of it. Leon's desire to approach him and touch his face was driven not just by his need to clean the dirt away, and that thought made his blush return with twice as much force.

Feeling flustered and unusual and completely not himself, Leon closed his book. Leaving his cold coffee half drunk, he slid himself off his stool and left, rather promptly.

* * *

The next time he saw the man again he was on his own. It was Saturday and Cid was at his weekend bar, leaving the newcomer to drink alone.

Leon sat himself in his usual spot, feeling any chance of enjoying his regular coffee melt away as his attention was once again apprehended by the annoyingly disarming young man.

At least this time he was clean. His clothes were plain and unassuming, though Leon noticed that for some reason that just made him look all the better, before giving himself one raised eyebrow and quickly moved his train of thought onward.

Removing his trusty paperback from his jacket pocket, Leon once again settled into the pretence of reading.

Without being asked, Tifa set his cup of coffee down in front of him, and as he pulled out his wallet to pay, Leon dared to venture a question.

'Who's the new guy?' He asked as nonchalantly as he knew how, tipping his head subtly towards the blond quietly drinking alone.  
Tifa turned to look and Leon nearly died inside, sure that his cover had been blown.

'Oh that's Cloud; he just moved here. Don't know where from. He's renting the second apartment upstairs. Kinda quiet though.' She replied, taking Leon's money and folding it through her fingers as she considered the stranger. 'Cute too.' She added, turning back to Leon and wiggled her eyebrows.

Leon replied with what he hoped was a perfectly neutral face and a few seconds of unimpressed silence.

Behind the blond, sat at a large round table were a group of early drinkers, clearly having a good time. They had been joined a little earlier by a group of men and one of them, while trying to impress his newest conquest, had clearly just stepped over the line as his last comment - lost to Leon, having still been preoccupied with Cloud - fell upon unimpressed and awkward silence.

Tension was immediately palpable from that corner of the room and while the guy was obviously trying to laugh it off, the woman he had just offended was less keen to oblige.

Leon watched as Cloud peered over his shoulder, a casual kind of interest on his face, before he turned back around and carried on drinking, completely unfazed by the social suicide happening behind him.

'I think it's time for you to leave, guys.' Leon heard Tifa say to the man as she passed, picking up their empties.

'Hey, come on, there's no need to be like that, we were just kidding around.' The guy replied, his tone implying he wasn't impressed with his choice of options.

'I don't care. I've asked you to leave.' Tifa was resolute.

It was a surprise when the group of men all stood up at once, their intentions obviously not to leave as they squared themselves up and crowded in on the small brunette. The situation had changed so drastically and in so short a time, Leon had barely lifted his ass of his stool before the obnoxious and now obviously drunk man had moved in closer, bringing his face to within inches of Tifa's.

'You gonna make me, sweetheart?' He snarled, nudging her forehead with his as she glared right back at him. The situation was only seconds away from dissolving into violence, and as the other women around the table backed up in anticipation of a brawl, Leon could only be impressed with Tifa's reluctance to be intimidated.

In the blink of an eye and a blur of navy blue sweater, the man had been wrenched away, his arm twisted up behind his back and his head slammed into the bar. Leon blinked again and watched as Cloud calmly applied pressure to the man's skull, grinding it harder into the wooden worktop as he twisted the man's arm sharply. An audible groan sounded as everyone went still, all eyes on the blond man and the drunk he had just immobilized.

'She asked you to leave.' Cloud said simply, calmly, all kinds of threat of violence in his rich, smooth voice that was deep and ominous.  
Leon felt a ripple of... Something pass through him and he swallowed heavily.

Cloud released his hold on the drunk and he slipped to the floor, clutching his arm to him with a hiss.

Turning to the man's group of friends, Cloud levelled them all with a calm and calculating eye.

'The door is there.' He said, nodding towards it. 'Take him with you.'

He watched them all leave - much more quietly and quickly than they had arrived - and then languidly sat back down, returning to his drink as slowly, the bar resumed its light chatter and the original group at the table behind him sat back down, nervously glancing over their shoulders at the blond stranger who had so unexpected sprung from nowhere.

Leon was the last to sit, his eyes still focused on Cloud as he tried to register exactly why he was feeling so... What was he feeling? His heart was hammering and he knew it wasn't all down to the adrenaline of an anticipated fight. The tranquillity and ease with which the blond had dealt with the situation - no hint of hesitation - made Leon feel uncomfortable yet undoubtedly impressed. The man had appeared so unassuming but had obviously been more than capable. In fact, Leon though he might have over done it a little bit. He had seemed almost board, as if he'd been dealing with his tax returns. His apathy toward the event, yet his obvious aptitude made something in Leon jump. And not just jump, but sway and quiver and, God help him, swoon! He realised, with a silent 'oh Jeeze' and a quick mental slap to his face, that there was something threatening about Cloud, and even worse: Leon liked it. At least, a little bit. And despite his best efforts - and all the sound reasoning he could give himself in the five seconds before he knew he'd lost the argument - he'd become completely enamoured.

Sitting heavily on his stool, Leon let go of the bar, realising that he had been holding onto it tightly. He picked his book back up, returning to pretending to read as he watched Tifa thank the blond for his help.

'No problem. Any more trouble, just give me a shout.' He replied, setting a bill on the counter as he disappeared up the stairs.

Leon gave it another five minutes before he packed up and left too.

* * *

The third time Leon saw Cloud was equal parts chance and intelligent design; though the brunet tried to tell himself that there really was no other option but to visit the Engine Shed, because no other mechanics in the whole of Hollow Bastion would do.

His car had started making a rather disconcerting screeching sound whenever he turned corners and even though he had never really been interested in or bothered too much about cars and motors, even he knew that wasn't a good sign. He pulled onto the oily forecourt in the hopes that someone would be able to fit him in.

Knocking a gentle tap on the open door, Leon peered in and scanned the cluttered workshop. There was a radio on in the background, filling the empty space with a thin, reedy sound and the main area of floor was taken up with a large pickup truck, jacked up onto its left wheels. Two legs stuck out from under it and the moment Leon cleared his throat and called out a cautious 'Hello' the rest of the body slid out. An oil smudged face with piercing blue eyes stared up at him, taking a few seconds to appraise the brunet before he sat up.

'Can I help you?' the blond asked, his tone low and flat, almost board.

'Um, yeah, my car… there's something wrong with it.' Leon replied, feeling his normally eloquent thoughts thicken up to gelatinous soup the longer he stared at the man casually wiping his hands on a dirty rag.

'Can you be more specific?' Cloud asked, a raised eyebrow creeping up into his hairline as he put the cloth down and lent forward to rest his elbows on his raised knees.

Leon tried his best to ignore the rush of blood to his cheeks and furrowed his brows, reaching up to scratch at the back of his head as he looked helplessly over his shoulder at his car.

'Umm, well it… it only does it when I'm driving.' Leon supplied, immediately wanting to stuff the words back into his mouth the moment he uttered them. He dared a look back at Cloud who looked faintly unimpressed, though it was hard to tell as his features remained smooth and seamless.

'Right.' Cloud spoke, the word dropping like a lead stone.

A few more seconds of unbearably awkward embarrassed silence passed between them, before the blond seemed to take pity on Leon and he stood up, careful to push the trolley he had been laid on back under the pickup truck with his foot.

'Why don't I just take a look at it?' He supplied, rubbing his hands on his overalls as he followed Leon out onto the forecourt.

Finding himself suddenly embarrassed all over again by the heap of crap he called a car, Leon winced as Cloud lifted the hood and disappeared under it. The blond however, seemed not to notice as he leaned in further, tapping a few things here and there, unscrewing a cap to peer inside before tightening it again.

'Can you turn the engine over for me?' He asked over his shoulder, breaking Leon's unconscious staring with a little jump.

Uh, yeah. Sure.' Leon offered, shaking himself with annoyance as he slid into the driver's seat and turned the ignition. Right on que, the screeching, whirring sound started up as Leon revved the accelerator and after a few seconds a casual hand came out from under the hood to signal that he could stop.

'Looks like your fan belt.' Cloud told him as Leon climbed out. 'I could tighten it up for you, but you'll just be back here in a few weeks. It'll take me 'bout an hour to replace the whole thing.' Cloud informed him.

Leon made a show of checking his watch and thinking on it for a few seconds before nodding reluctantly. He knew damned well he had nothing better to do today.

'Sure, where do I wait?'

Cloud pointed him over to a small bench hidden under newspapers and several cardboard boxes. Shifting the junk aside, and placating the older man with coffee, Cloud returned to the forecourt to manoeuvre the car into the garage.

Leon watched him work in silence; the only sounds were the occasional clink from under the hood as the blond dismantled the engine and the tinny voice from the radio. Taking the opportunity to gather his nerves and order his thoughts, Leon worked his courage up and by the time Cloud had finished, casually handing him the invoice sheet, the brunet was almost certain of what he was going to say.

'So, you're new to town, right?' Leon asked casually, making a show of reading through the itemised bill.

'That's right.' Cloud replied leaning up against the work bench. He watched the brunet from behind grubby blond bangs, a sort of vague exhaustion about his body language and Leon wondered if he was asked that question a lot.

'If you want… I could show you around, you know… just as neighbours. I live… I mean… I live just a couple of blocks up from you. We could maybe go for a drink, or something.' Leon garbled, immediately regretting opening his mouth at the blank and completely unreadable expression on the blond's face.

'You know where I live?' Cloud asked, his eyebrows crinkled in concern.

Leon's cheeks reddened terribly and with a sense of gut-dropping freefall, he ducked his head and quickly signed the invoice.

'Ummm, yeah, I've seen you at Seventh Heaven. Tifa told me you were staying there.' He added, afraid that his image of a weird stalker had been well and truly established.

'Hn, guess it's true what they say about small towns.' Cloud offered, taking the clipboard and Leon's credit card from the older man. He turned and disappeared into the small office, leaving Leon alone, his tentative offer still hanging in the air, unanswered.

Cloud re-entered a few moments later and handed Leon his card back.

'So, what do you think?' Leon asked, feeling failure imminently on the horizon.

'About what?' Cloud asked him, confusion evident on his handsome face.

'About that drink.' Leon replied feeling that sinking feeling rising up faster the longer the silence extended between them.

'Oh, umm, thanks but I'm good.' Cloud answered, casually nodding his head back to the pick-up, signalling he had work to be getting on with.

Leon felt an unexpected spike of hot anger. His rejection hadn't been entirely unforeseeable, but it stung none-the-less.

'You don't need friends?' The brunet asked rather shortly, a flush of anger colouring his cheeks rather than embarrassment. Cloud turned back to him with a mild look of shock on his otherwise neutral face.

'No, it's not that. I'm just… not interested.' He said rather callously, his tone flat and final.

'Right. Well, thanks for fixing the car.' Leon replied, his own tone short and clipped, clearly unimpressed with Cloud's apathetic response.

'Anytime.' Cloud returned, his blank expression never shifting as he watched Leon climb into his car and drive away.

* * *

Leon knew that statistically speaking, if he wanted to avoid seeing Cloud at the present time, he would have to find another bar to drink his afternoon cup of coffee in. Yet for all the reasons he could have possibly used, he was determined not to be driven out of Seventh Heaven primarily and most importantly because Leon considered it _his_ bar. He had been going there for years. If anyone was going to change their habits, it would be Cloud. And even though in the back of his mind, Leon knew that the likelihood of Cloud avoiding his own home was slim to none, it still didn't deter him from his rather infantile reasoning: he had been perfectly polite and congenial in his offer and nothing, not even the humiliation of rejection, would deter him from his routine.

Upon entering the bar, he was relieved to see that Cloud was nowhere in sight.

Settling himself, as he usually did, in his seat and opening his book, he waited for his coffee and made a tentative effort to begin reading.

The door opened several times while he sat there and even though he had made up his mind that his interactions with Cloud the day pervious would bother him no longer, Leon felt his skin prickling every time the small bell over his shoulder jangled and he cursed himself for his pathetic simpering. When had he ever been this preoccupied with someone – a person he hardly knew, had only spoken to once – in all his life?

Putting more of an effort into not giving a damn who would walk through the door, Leon managed to lose himself in his book for approximately ten minutes, before a familiarly deep and drawling voice startled him and sent any hopes of an uneventful afternoon up in flames.

'You still reading that?'

Leon glanced up once, the image of Cloud's curious little smile irritating and puzzling.

'It passes the time.' Leon replied, clearing his throat. His brows furrowed and his frustration spiked as Cloud lifted the book from his hands and turned the cover to read the title, before handing it back, feigning ignorance of Leon's dark look.

'You got a lot of time to pass? You're in here quite a lot.' Cloud commented, leaning casually against the bar.

Leon leaned back in his seat, needing the distance while Cloud continued to stare, a lazy, cocky expression on his face. Leon glared back, unimpressed at being caught off guard.

'What's it to you, I thought you weren't interested?' He returned, throwing the blond's words back at him in a dry tone.

Cloud shrugged, his manner casual and maddeningly indifferent.

'Thought I'd take pity on you. You've been reading that same chapter for a week. You look like you could do with something else to pass the time.'

It took all of five seconds for Leon to realise he was being made fun of and with an indignant curl of his lip he snapped the book closed and slid off his chair.

'Not interested.' He shot back, digging in his pocket for his money. He threw a note on the bar top and turned to leave, a small shock shooting up his arm as a hand reached out to stop him. He glared down at it, taken aback by the realisation that being touched by someone – anyone – was strange and unfamiliar. He realised he'd been on his own for far too long.

'Hey come on, don't be like that. I'm trying to make amends here.' Cloud said, his voice soft and apologetic. Leon's stare was still fixed on the hand on his arm and like a flash of suppressed memory he recalled those same hands grinding a drunken assholes head into the bar top. By contrast, Cloud's hold on him was gentle and warm. Leon could have ripped his arm away of he'd really wanted to, yet he stood there, allowing the seconds to tick by as he ordered his thoughts and gathered himself together.

'How about we start again?' Cloud offered, letting go of Leon and extended the same hand out for Leon to shake. 'I'm Cloud.'

Feeling all of a sudden light headed and completely out of his depth, Leon cautiously placed his hand into Cloud's palm and shook it.

'Leon.' He offered.

Cloud nodded, a warm and inviting grin curling his lips and Leon felt his throat go dry. Underneath the tempting and attractive smile, Leon felt that current of danger. It glimmered in Cloud's eyes with threatening, intoxicating, shifting shards of ambiguity, in the rough calluses on his hands and the cool, assertive set of his shoulders. It rippled faintly underneath his self-assurance, his almost arrogant smirk and Leon felt a shiver of excitement chill his skin, raising the hairs on his arms.

'How 'bout that drink?' Cloud said, his curious accent curling his words and made Leon's pulse race. Turning back to the bar, and without another seconds thought, Leon sat back down and waited for Tifa to approach them.

* * *

'So what kind of books do you write?' Cloud asked the next night, shelling another peanut. He'd pulled up a stool from somewhere and had settled himself next to the brunet as soon as he'd walked through the door; several empty bottles of beer surrounded them as they talked quietly, their conversation private and conspiratorial in the noisy bar.

'Mostly crime and thriller.' Leon replied, feeling strangely shy and embarrassed about his work.

Cloud gave a curious little laugh.

'I write for the local paper mostly and I have a small bookshop at the end of the street here. It's nothing major but, I like the quiet.' Leon added, peeling the label from his drink in small patches.

'Anything I might have heard of?' Cloud asked.

'I dunno, do you like to read?'

'No.' Cloud replied, shaking his head.

'Then probably not.' Leon said feeling oddly relieved.

'You come here every day?' Cloud asked, although Leon had a feeling he already knew the answer to that question.

'You're asking a lot of questions for someone who wasn't interested a few days ago.' Leon noted, catching the irritated little crease of the blond's brow.

'I figured you were interested enough for he both of us.' Cloud shot back coolly.

Leon eyed him for a few moments, unsure if he should press the issue and risk further embarrassment to himself, but in the end his defensive nature won out and the thought that Cloud somehow had the upper hand when it came to reading him made Leon feel strangely prickly. Besides, he kind of enjoyed sparing with Cloud this way.

'What makes you so certain?' Leon replied, his tone almost aggressive.

Cloud's face was serious and stern, the chatter of the bar rising above them for a few seconds as the blond let the silence stretch between them, purposefully embellishing the almost tangible discomfort.

'Your book.' He answered eventually, popping another peanut into his mouth. He chased it with a swig of his beer. 'The one you were pretending to read while you were checking me out.'

'How'd you know I was pretending?' Leon demanded, feeling his face flush even as he tried to defend himself.

'It normally takes you twenty minutes to turn a page?' Cloud asked, giving Leon a side long glance and a smug smile.

'Fine, so what if I was?' Leon retorted, feeling angry that he had been so transparent. 'What difference does it make to you?'

Cloud let the question hang in the air for a moment, taking a sip from his drink as he studied the back wall behind the bar, his weight rested on his elbows. He appeared so relaxed, so nonchalant in comparison to Leon's own tumultuous emotions, it made the brunet's normally ordered and rational mind nearly combust with exasperation.

'I'm here aren't I?' He answered eventually, turning his body to catch Leon's surprised expression.

Leon was well aware that in comparison to average standards, his flirting had left a whole lot to be desired. Yet somehow, against all odds and despite his social ineptitude, he had found himself on the threshold of a very tenuous and indefinable relationship.

'So… you're saying you _are_ interested?'

The corners of Cloud's mouth curled up into the most seductive smile Leon had ever seen and with a small chuckle, the blond resumed his relaxed lean against the bar and finished off his beer.

'I told you,' he said, his voice gentle and teasing. 'I'm taking pity on you.'

* * *

The days and weeks that passed afterwards were a blur of dark, secretive looks and knowing smirks. A casual trace of fingers against the back of his hand or blue eyes filled with that heated hunger let Leon know when he was wanted, and the brunet , despite his better judgement – that ripple of warning that itched under his skin – always answered the call.

Cloud's soft voice was the veil that had hidden bruising strength and his gentle smirk was the pall that had shrouded desperate, groping hands. His calm and collected manner fell away the moment they were alone, and Leon let himself be devoured by it.

He paid no mind to the voice that told him he was being used, that the blond man had given him nothing but the release of his body since the day they'd first talked in that bar. It was only the silence of the man, his strange allure that kept Leon from asking the questions he knew he'd get no answers to: Cloud would always be a mystery to him, that much was clear.

And in the most perverse way, Leon was using him too. Cloud was _his_ release, his remedy to the monotony of his ordinary life. He was excitement and mystery, his perverse secret to keep.

The brunet pressed a sweaty forehead to the nape of Cloud's neck, breathing heavily through his mouth as he contemplated their mutual exploitation, his hips slowing in one final lazy grind and before he'd had chance to catch his breath, Cloud pulled away.

Cleaning himself on a spare towel, the blond turned, tugging his trousers back into place and tied his overalls back around his waist. He ducked his head and averted his eyes as Leon cleaned himself up and made himself presentable, tidying the small office while the older man buttoned his pants.

'I'm going away this weekend.' Leon murmured quietly, his eyes caressing the line of the blond's neck as Cloud stooped to pick up a stack of fallen papers.

'So?' Cloud grunted back, not bothering to turn around, shuffling through the invoices with grubby hands. 'I'll see you when you get back.'

Leon swallowed around a hard lump in his throat, the man's indifference to him making him feel weak.

'I thought… well, I thought… maybe…'

Cloud turned a fraction, eyeing Leon from under cautions lashes with a sharp look in his eye.

'I thought maybe you could come with me.' The question fell between them, punctuation the heavy silence.

Cloud looked back down at the papers in his hands and collected them together, tossing them aside as he straightened his shoulders, almost physically bolstering himself. Inching backwards he perched on the edge of the desk and dug in his pocket for a pack of cigarettes. He took his time lighting one, his eyes dark and focused on a spot on the ground as he scratched at the back of his neck and blew out a steady plume of smoke, his shoulders now slumped, his whole body indifferent and cold, as if he'd already shut himself down.

'I don't think so, Leon.' He replied eventually, looking up at the older man through his oil stained bangs.

Leon had known it was coming, but the man's words caused the ache in his chest to twist and tighten anyway. Rejection was always a tricky thing, even when no promises had ever been made.

'It's just a weekend, Cloud.' He tried to reason.

Cloud held his stare for a long time, weighing him up, reading him, practically seeing straight through him, before he huffed an unamused sigh, shook his head and sucked in one cheek.

'Have I ever given you the impression we were a couple?' He asked, the question purposefully self-evident.

'I never said we were, but I-'

'I don't want a relationship, Leon. I thought I'd made that perfectly clear.' Cloud interrupted, his voice turning hard, the sound of it slamming into Leon like a wall.

The brunet could feel the beat of his heart beneath his ribs, pounding painfully.

'It's just a weekend.' He tried again, pitifully.

Cloud stood and threw his half-finished cigarette to the ground, stubbing it out with a heavy booted foot. The air shifted, a sense of finality somehow emanating from the man as he stood and straightened his shoulders.

'We're done here.' He ground out, walking back into the empty workshop, leaving Leon alone in the thick atmosphere of the office.

Despite the ambiguous words, Leon knew what Cloud had meant and he'd waste no time in trying to get the blond to explain. He followed the man out to where he was rummaging through a large tool box next to an old beaten up station wagon. The brunet stood watching him, his eyes boring into the broad expanse of his back and after seconds that felt maddeningly long, Leon finally felt the rage that should have come to him a lot sooner.

'So that's it?' He asked, painfully aware that he had no right to expect anything from Cloud, yet feeling cheated all the same.

Cloud stood and turned, giving Leon a casual throw away glance as he passed.

'That's it.' He replied, hauling a large wrench from the workbench behind Leon and walked back to the station wagon.

Leon watched him work, waiting for an explanation he knew would never come, before the humiliation became too much and with a shaky hand through his tangled bangs, he turned and left, his body feeling light with an odd mixture of release and emptiness

* * *

'Having trouble?'

Leon hefted the large barrel of white spirit into his arms and threw a dark look over his shoulder. He'd know that voice anywhere and without stopping to give Cloud an answer he splashed the paint thinner over the graffiti scrawled across his shop window.

'Nothing I can't handle.' The brunet murmured as he watched the offensive words begin to bleed and run down the glass, slowly dissolving as Leon splashed more thinner onto the window. Picking up a hard bristle brush he began to scrub.

'I've not seen you at the bar recently.' Cloud commented, leaning up against the window frame with that same casual arrogance that had, at first, fascinated Leon so much. Now it irritated him, making him clench his jaw down tightly as the word '_faggot' _slowly melted into a white swirl across the glass.

'I needed a change of scenery.' He answered bitterly, scrubbing harder.

'Because of me?' Cloud asked him brazenly.

The question was designed to throw him off and make him uncomfortable and it was something that Cloud had been good at. Now it only infuriated the brunet, who had never really been a game player.

'What do you think?' He snapped, stopping his scrubbing and turned violently towards Cloud. He took the blond by surprise, who had expected the older man's usual taciturn reply and he took a step back. Leon recognised the shock in his eyes and realised with painful clarity the blond had taken him for granted for far too long. He was sick of being used and tired of being taunted. He'd had enough of feeling like Cloud's play thing and he realised that the younger man was beginning to understand that.

'You said we were done, Cloud. We've got no more to say to each other.' Leon added firmly, his eyes hard and unforgiving.

He turned back to his shop window and carried on scrubbing, his movements sharp and harsh as he channelled all of his energy and disappointment into removing the disgusting word from his property.

Cloud watched him for a few moments more, waiting to see if the brunet really meant his harsh words or if he would cave. When the moment turned awkward and no more words were forthcoming, Cloud turned and left, leaving Leon to his shop window.

* * *

Leon returned to Seventh Heaven eventually. He missed the familiarity of its surroundings and the comfort of its routine and again, that childish reasoning that told him it was _his_ bar persuaded him to go back.

With alarming ease, Leon slipped back into his previous habits, his world continuing to slowly revolve around him, resuming its familiar pace and Leon welcomed it with an odd sort of embittered contentment. As he watched Cloud enter the bar and sit in his usual seat, he huffed sourly at the contradiction and returned to his book.

'You guys still not talking?' Tifa asked as she cleared away Leon's coffee.

The brunet's eyes flicked to the blond, and this time it was Cloud who was caught staring. Leon pierced him with a glare before concentrating back on his book.

'No.' He replied, hoping Tifa would catch his tone and drop her line of questioning.

'It's been over two months, Leon.' She said as if scolding him.

Leon placed his book down and fixed her with a glare too.

'So?'

Tifa sighed and shook her head but wisely chose not to say anything else. She wiped the bar down and left Leon to his brooding.

* * *

'Hey Leon, what's this do?' The young dark haired girl asked, holding up a large, flat, shrink wrapped parcel.

Leon looked up from his stack of newly arrived stock, the books scattered around his knees as he knelt on the floor and checked them off against the invoice.

'That's an ink cartridge for my printer. Put it down.' He told her flatly, turning back to his clipboard. He pushed his glasses back up his nose and continued his stock take.

Yuffie did as instructed only to pick up another parcel wrapped in brown paper.

'What about this?' She asked, hefting it into one hand to test the weight.

Leon sighed but humoured her, giving her a withering look over the top of his glasses as he watched her fidget in her seat on the corner of his desk.

'That's my manuscript for my new book. If you damage it I'll kill you.' He replied standing from the mound of books and stepped over to the counter. He lifted the parcel from the young girl's hands and placed it back in his out tray.

'Don't you have some place better to be? Why don't you go and annoy your uncle for a while.'

'I like it here.' Yuffie replied, wrinkling her nose. 'Besides, Uncle Cid says I annoy him enough already.' She added. Picking up a stapler she began to shoot staples out onto the floor making 'pew pew' noises as if shooting a weapon.

Leon lifted a brow and stared down at the young girl sat swinging her legs off the edge of the table. He caught her wrist and took the stapler off her, setting it back down on the table before giving her a pricing gun and pointed towards a stack of neatly piled books. I know the feeling, he thought.

'Price those up and when you're done I've got another box you can do.'

'Okie dokie.' Yuffie chirruped, jumping off the table and bounced over to the stack of books.

For two weeks every summer since she was seven, Yuffie had spent her holidays with her uncle in Hollow Bastion, yet Leon had quickly become the one to mind her while Cid worked. Outwardly, Leon protested. He was solitary and private by nature and it wasn't an image he wanted undermining, yet he couldn't help but secretly admit to liking having the young girl around.

He watched her get to work and was about to turn back to his own stack of books when the door to his shop jangled open and three men walked in.

'Can I help you?' He asked, brows furrowed.

The men spread themselves out, their presence menacing and threatening without Leon being able to place his finger on why and immediately the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end.

'You're still here.' The man in the middle stated, his tone level and calm, yet his eyes flashed dangerously.

'Where else would I be?' Leon replied, weary confusion colouring his words. 'Who are you?' He added.

The man in the middle sneered, the look altogether nasty and unpleasant.

'We thought you might have got the hint by now.' He said, looking around the shop with casual interest. 'But I guess not.'

Leon's face darkened, beginning to understand who these men where in front of him.

'If you think broken windows and graffiti are going to frighten me then I'm afraid you're going to be disappointed.' He shot back, curling his fists unconsciously as he recalled the continued harassment and vandalism he been anonymously getting for weeks.

The man sniffed, shooting a glare at the brunet before settling his gaze on the pitcher of juice Leon had set out for Yuffie. He took a step towards it and reached out a hand, casually knocking it to the floor, smashing it and spilling the juice onto the carpet. He looked back up at Leon who stood watching him with a cool and level gaze.

'Oops.' He sneered, fishing for a reaction.

'Hey, what do you think you're doing?' Yuffie demanded, standing from her crouch by her pile of books.

Leon's gaze snapped to the young girl and his heart rate immediately sped up.

'Yuffie, why don't you find something else to do for a while?' He said, looking over her shoulder to the door.

The young girl stared at him, her displeasure turning to concern as she noticed the tension on his face and the implied message in his words.

'But, Leon…' she stammered, anxiety beginning to churn in her gut.

'Just do as I say, Yuffie!' Leon barked as the man took a step towards him, his concern for his own safety melting into the background as he began to fear what might happen to the young girl if she stayed.

Yuffie flinched at the harsh words, a stab of hurt hitting her in her chest. Leon had never raised his voice to her before and his unfamiliar tone made the unease in her belly spring free. She slowly backed away towards the door, her worried gaze never leaving Leon as he slowly disappeared behind the hulk of the three men as they closed in around him. With a panic and urgency that she had never felt before, Yuffie ran from the bookshop, knowing she needed to find help from someone, fast.

* * *

Cloud was halfway through cleaning one of the beer lines when the doors to Seventh Heaven slammed open, nearly knocking the bell off its hinge. A young girl crashed through them, shouting and sweating, red faced from running as she cast her eyes around the bar.

'Uncle Cid?!' She called loudly, panic obvious in her voice making a few of the customers turn to look at her.

'Hey, Cid's not here. It's the weekend.' Cloud told her, recognising her as the grouchy old man's niece. 'What's wrong?' He asked as he watched the panic on her face melt into real and tangible distress.

'I need help.' The girl cried, her large eyes beginning to fill up.

Cloud placed the bucket of line cleaner he'd just pulled through the pump onto the bar top and walked around the counter, wiping his hands on a towel slung over his shoulder.

'Hey, hey, calm down. Tell me what's wrong.' He tried to sooth her, placing a hand on her shoulder as she gulped in a large lungful of air.

'My friend, he's in trouble.' She began, a large tear slipping free. 'Some guys came into his shop and threatened him. Leon made me leave but I think they're going to hurt him!' She cried, hiccupping as she tried to control her fear and tears. 'I need to find my uncle.'

'Wait, did you say Leon?' Cloud asked, his heart jumping into his throat.

The girl nodded, wiping at her ruddy face.

'Yeah, he's gotta bookshop down the road. D'you know him?' She asked, hope rising in her watery eyes.

Cloud didn't stop to answer her. Throwing the towel down onto the bar top he pushed past her and flung the door open, the handle hitting the wall, chipping the paint as it slammed back and rattled the frame.

Bewildered, Yuffie watched the blond man race past the window and disappear up the street before she collected herself and snapped out of her distress. Following him out the door she chased after him.

* * *

The door to Leon's bookshop was wide open by the time Yuffie made it back. A loud crash and a startled grunt made the young girl jump as she entered the building and with a wince she watched as a man stumbled backwards, the back of his head hitting the corner of a bookshelf as he fell. The blond man from the bar reached out, grabbing the front of his blood stained tee shirt to catch him and raised his fist to punch him again, the sound of knuckles connecting with flesh making Yuffie wince.

The young girl cast her gaze about franticly, noticing the other two men had fled and the shop was now in tatters; books strewn about the floor and shelves completely empty. Leon's desk had been swept clean and a few free standing shelves had been knocked over like large dominoes.

Yuffie stumbled over the wreckage, hugging the wall as she tried to avoid the two men struggling for dominance in the middle of the shop. She watched the blond man twist sharply, undercutting the taller man's hold on his arms as he swept a leg out and toppled him, using the man's momentum to bring him crashing to the floor with a winding grunt. With a knee pressed to the man's throat, the blond raised a first and brought it crashing down into stranger's face, whipping it to the side. Like an elastic band snapping under too much strain, the man went limp, his grip on the blond's tee shirt going slack as his fists dropped to the floor.

The shop went still; the only sounds echoing in the silence were the blond's heavy breathing and Yuffie's startled gasping and as the shock of the fight wore off, Yuffie's panic returned to her.

'Where's Leon?' She asked, casting her eyes around the trashed shop.

The blond man looked up, as if surprised to see her there, his eyes struggling to focus as his face melted from rage to an eerie calm. He stood, chest heaving as he breathed heavily through his nose and looked down at the unconscious man on the floor, his fists clenching and flexing as if he wanted to carry on pounding the man into a bloody pulp and out of existence.

Yuffie shot past them, stumbling over the scattered books and wiggled underneath a toppled bookshelf, emerging at the back of the shop. It was difficult to make anything out in the mess and disarray, but trapped under a large bookstand that had come to rest, wedged against the back wall of the shop, was a pale and bloodied hand.

The young girl skidded to a stop beside it, kneeling quickly. Wiggling into the space she pushed the books out of the way and shook the brunet's shoulder.

'Leon?' She called, fear lacing her tone.

The older man groaned and shifted slightly, slowly coming round as Yuffie gently squeezed his arm.

'Hey, you, I need some help here!' She called to the blond, tears of frustration beginning to fill up her eyes again as she tried to shift the large shelf from off her friend. It wouldn't budge and with a cry of frustration, Yuffie slipped to the floor and waited for Leon to come round a bit more, his head cradled carefully in her lap.

A shadow fell across them both and Yuffie looked up to see the blond man hefting his shoulder against the slanted shelf and with a sharp shove, the thing came free, the young girl watching with wide eyes as the blond righted it.

With a peculiar and focused calm in his gaze, the blond knelt down beside them and took Leon by the shoulders, hoisting him into the crook of his arm as he brushed the older man's bangs back out of his face.

'Leon?' He called urgently, gently shaking him.

The brunet groaned again, and Yuffie watched the strange flicker of emotions that rippled over the blond's face as they both waited for Leon to wake up.

'Leon, can you hear me?' The blond called again, pressing his hand to the large gash that bled profusely on Leon's forehead.

With an audible groan of pain, Leon lifted a hand and pressed it over Cloud's, his legs beginning to work uselessly as his eyes flickered open. With a sharp wince, he reached up and grabbed Cloud's shoulder, attempting to pull against it to sit himself up.

'Where's Yuffie?' He groaned, leaning heavily against the blond.

'I'm right here.' The young girl replied, skirting round so that she was in the older man's line of sight.

'Are you okay?' He asked, pushing off of Cloud's shoulder and reached out to cup her cheek.

Launching herself into the brunet's arms, she pressed herself to his chest, relief flooding her as his arms tightened around her shaking shoulders.

'I'm fine. I tried to find Uncle Cid. I ran all the way to the bar but he wasn't there.' Yuffie's voice broke as she relieved her panic and distress. 'Some guy behind the bar came instead.' She finished, pulling away to find the random stranger who had helped her.

The blond man had stood up and was watching them with quiet, relieved eyes from across the aisle, his bloodied fists dangling loosely at his sides, his tee shirt stained and ripped from the violent struggle.

'Do you know each other?' Yuffie asked, her gaze flicking between the two of them as they stared at each other.

Leon nodded, his eyes flashing with pain briefly as he winced, his head throbbing with the subtle movement.

'Sort of, yeah.'

* * *

'You don't have to do this.' Leon commented as he was helped into a seat at his kitchen table.

By the time, Leon had been helped to his feet and they had all stumbled out from the alcoves at the back of the building, the man that Cloud had hit unconscious had disappeared and the room was empty.

With a weary sigh, Leon had surveyed the damage done to his shop, a small piece of his fierce heart breaking at the destruction wrought by hatred, and he sat heavily on the bottom stair leading up to his private apartments.

'You'd better go home, Yuffie.' He'd told the young girl who had protested for some time, before being placated with the promise that Leon would call her that evening to let her know that he was alright.

Reluctantly she'd left, leaving Cloud and Leon alone in the carnage and with a soft mummer, Cloud had offered to help Leon up the stairs.

'I know.' The blond replied, his eyes watching the older man carefully as Leon sat back in the seat, holding his bruised ribs.

'Do you keep a first aid kit?'

Leon reached up and touched the gash on his forehead, the cut still oozing blood and with furrowed brows he nodded towards the bathroom.

'On top of the cabinets above the sink.'

Cloud disappeared and returned quickly, placing the plastic box on the kitchen table and rummaged through it, pulling out cotton wool and antiseptic, steri strips and tape. The moment he touched a cotton ball, doused in iodine, to the brunet's wound, Leon pulled back with a sharp hiss.

'Don't be a baby.' Cloud commented, taking Leon's chin firmly between his fingers and pulled the man back into place.

'I can do it myself.' Leon snapped, wrenching his chin away and reached up for the cotton ball.

Cloud pulled back, his face stern and sharp as he stared down defiantly at the older man glaring up at him.

'I'm not the one who did this to you, Leon, so why don't you give me a break?' He retorted, his eyes flaring with that dangerous undercurrent.

Leon scowled back at him for a long time, his displeasure and churlish anger simmering just below the surface. He'd been no closer to forgiving the blond this morning, and the events of the afternoon had only served to complicate matters; the man stood in his kitchen now was still the same uncaring asshole he had been yesterday and no amount of leaping to the rescue would convince Leon otherwise. But then again, Leon's annoying inner voice whispered, why was he still here?

Cloud let out an exasperated sigh, his aggression melting away slowly as he set the cotton ball down and pulled out a chair. Sitting opposite Leon, their eyes now level, he doused another fresh piece of cotton.

'May I?' He asked, reaching up to the cut on Leon's brow.

Leon acquiesced, lowering his hostile scowl and nodded vaguely. Pressing his eyelids closed against the sting, he suffered quietly as Cloud cleaned the wound.

'You didn't tell me you were getting this kind of trouble.' Cloud said softly, his voice gentle with a hint of concern. He was met with resolute silence.

'Is it because of me? I mean… because of us?' Cloud asked, feeling guilt and anger all at the same time. They weren't new feelings for him, he'd dealt with this kind of hostility all his life, yet the fact that Leon had been the focus of this attack was causing him the strangest surges of rage and possessiveness.

'It's a small town.' Leon replied noncommittally, his answer explaining a lot more than either of them realised.

Cloud watched Leon as he cleaned the gash, all the while fighting desperately with his feelings of attraction and fury, confusion and fear. The man was maddeningly alluring. His nature both quiet and enticing and in all his years, Cloud had never met a man as capable of holding his attention like Leon did. It scared him, and this overwhelming newness, these disquieting feelings coupled with his own secretive past made those dangerous alarm bells ring in the dark recesses of his mind. He was accustomed to listening to his gut, yet Cloud couldn't shake the feeling that this time, something louder, something stronger was drowning it out.

'If you get any more trouble – no matter what it is – I want you to tell me.' He said firmly, placing the last steri strip across the cut. Reaching for a new piece of gauze, he splashed it with iodine and reached for Leon's tightly clenched fist. Easing the man's fingers open he dabbed at the bleeding and scrapped knuckles, noticing the slight tremble of Leon's fingers and tried hard not to let it bother him.

'Why do you care so much all of a sudden?' Leon asked him, his voice low and husky though there was no malice in it now.

Cloud could have said anything that immediately sprang to mind: he was a friend, looking out for another friend: they were alike, he and Leon, and people like them needed to watch out for each other. He could have even said that that's what neighbours did, people in small towns looked out for one another, but instead, he replied honestly and without irony.

'Because I like you. A lot.'

Looking up at Leon, prepared for the cynical disbelief, he tried to convey sincerity. He was a jerk and he knew it, he treated Leon badly and without feeling or explanation, but that didn't mean he was a liar.

'I just… I don't really have a lot of experience, you know… with stuff… this kind of stuff.' He continued, feeling his brows lower and darken at his ineloquence.

Leon sighed heavily and his scowl softened, the silent accusation in his eyes tempered with understanding.

'Well, that makes two of us then.' He commented with a gentle smile.

A small sliver of mirth slipped into Cloud's fathomless eyes and that quiet sultry smile curled his lips before he became serious and focused once again, reaching out to cup the side of Leon's face with a gentle hand.

'I mean it, I won't let this happen to you again, Leon. I promise.'

The brunet swallowed thickly and briefly wondered what it was that Cloud wasn't saying. There could be no promises between them, Leon knew that for certain. Cloud's declaration was bold and unwarranted. Leon was no more his to protect than Cloud was his to love, yet they seemed to be closer than ever to some sort of understanding.

'If you're going to make promises like that then you'd better be prepared for people to have something to say about it. Especially around here.' Leon told him, knowing that the kind of life he wanted – the kind of life he wanted with Cloud – came with consequences.

The younger man seemed to absorb his meaning, understanding dawning in his eyes as he appeared to strengthen his resolve.

'Then I'd better stick around. We can watch each other's back.'


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: **My unreserved apologies for how long it has taken me to finish this chapter. I've been unwell these last couple of months and It's taken me a while to feel like my old self again. But at last, this story is complete. Huge thanks to Istoleyourcheesecake for the stupendous prompt that caused my brain to go into melt down over this plot. I've loved every single word of it. Thank you also to all of my reviewers and people who've favourited and followed this. I hope the ending will be satisfactory.

Much love. Xxx

* * *

"_And promise me this:  
You'll wait for me only,  
Scared of the lonely arms._

_Surface, far below these words_

_And maybe, just maybe I'll come home_

_Who am I, darling to you?_  
_Who am I?_  
_Gonna tell you stories of mine_  
_Who am I?_

_Who am I, darling for you?_  
_Who am I?_  
_Gonna be a burden in time, lonely_  
_Who am I, to you?"_

Promise – Ben Howard.

* * *

**And the Ever After**

Cloud squinted and held up a hand to shield his eyes from the bright autumn light and let the door swing shut behind him. His tired eyes hurt and his temples pounded, thudding in rhythm to the palpitations of his heart caused from drinking too much coffee. The night had been long and terrifying and it would be a long time before he could shut his eyes and sleep.

Stumbling wearily down the precinct steps, his boots crunching frost coated leaves, his itchy eyes settled on the rust coloured pick-up truck stretched obnoxiously across the 'no parking' zone.

Pressing a cigarette between his lips, Cloud snorted softly and cupped the flame of his lighter against the freezing wind that threatened to extinguish it. Trudging with heavy, cemented steps, Cloud yanked open the stiff door, the hinges popping loudly in protest against the cold. A warm billowing wall of heat tumbled from the cabin and with a small hop Cloud lifted himself into the passenger seat, yanking the heavy door shut behind him. Settling back into the well-worn leather, he pressed his fingers to his tired eyes and momentarily allowed himself to relax before he turned to the driver.

'How is he, is he awake yet?'

'He wasn't when I left.' Cid replied, chewing on his own cigar, his window cranked open slightly to let the smoke out.

'Will you take me back, I need to see him.'

'You sure you don't wanna go home first, you look like shit.'

'No. Just take me back to the hospital.'

'Whatever you say, kid.' Cid replied, turning the key in the ignition, flooding the engine as the great, aging, hulking beast rattled to life.

Cloud glanced out of the window, watching in the wing mirror as the front of Hollow Bastion Precinct XIII disappeared, and the fresh images of interrogation rooms and police officers and Styrofoam cups filled with bad coffee slowly began to blend together until they were as indistinct and remote as his childhood memories.

'This aint the first time you've been inside a police station, is it?' Cid asked none committedly as he checked the rear view mirror, his astuteness belied by his apparent disinterest.

'No.' Cloud replied his tone level and disengaged, far too preoccupied with fresh and resurfacing memories to care what the older man thought of him. Diego had done all the damage he could do anyway. Cloud's previous life had been ripped painfully from its grave and thrown under the bus for everyone to see and it wouldn't matter what Cloud said or did or thought of it all; everyone would think what they wanted.

'Hn, bunch of cock-sucking pigs. I hope you told em to go fuck 'emselves.'

'You don't care what I did?' Cloud turned to Cid, vague curiosity and wonder piquing his interest as he toyed with his cigarette.

'Aint no business of mine to judge no one.'

Cloud turned back to his window, watching the city slide by as they stopped and started at lights, pulled in and out of lanes and shifted with the crawling traffic. Taking one last drag of his smoke, he threw the butt out of the crack in the window and then rolled it up, resting his elbow on the ledge as he rubbed a finger against his aching temple.

'You wouldn't say that if you knew.' Cloud informed him, knowing he was risking more than just his friendship with the older man.

Cid cursed under his breath and slammed his palm into the steering wheel, honking the horn loudly and shouted out the partially open window at the taxi cab that had just cut him up. He took the cigar stub out of his mouth, moistened his lips and rasped the back of his hand against his bristly chin before he began chewing on the butt again, raising a cynical brow at Cloud out of the corner of his eye.

'Maybe, maybe not. Point is I aint askin'.'

Cloud shuddered. The man's words, although prosaic yet underpinned with genuine affection, caused a slew of sludgy memories to seep to the surface of Cloud's mind, bringing with them a coldness that chilled him to the bone; the hairs on his arms stood on end and his jaw clenched with the effort of holding back the painful shivers.

_I aint askin'…_

Cloud swallowed thickly and was surprised at how easily the spring of tears rose on his lashes. With a frustrated hand he brushed them away, scrubbing furiously at his treacherous eyes that itched with the salt and ached with fatigue.

'Have you ever done something,' he began, feeling his voice soft and far away even as it slipped from his aching throat. 'Something bad. And you knew it was bad, but you did it anyway. You convinced yourself it was okay. That it didn't matter.'

Cid let the burning silence hang as he mulled the question over in his mind, feeling flippant towards the kid. He had been young once, and if growing old had taught him anything, it was that nothing was ever as serious as it first seemed. Being old and grouchy had its advantages.

'We all have. Don't think you're special, kid, just cos you've got secrets.'

Cloud snorted, a sarcastic eyebrow raised as he continued to stare out at the passing traffic.

'I never said I was special.'

'Whatever, kid. Like I said, I aint askin'.'

And there they were again: words that caused a ripple of memory to give way and buckle under the weight of time and everything he'd done.

* * *

_The fire was hot and intense and it filled Cloud with a primal fear, thrilling him with wild excitement and indescribable power. The shop burned quickly, engulfing everything in its heat, smoke filling the night sky with an eerie inky smudge that blocked out the stars and the sliver of moon._

_A shrill scream, guttural and terrified rose up over the crackle of the flames and Cloud whipped his head aside to watch as a woman collapsed to the ground, struggling to hold onto the little boy in her arms who was fighting to get back into the burning shop. _

_Hidden in the shadows, he let the thumping of his heart distract him as his bright blue eyes slid back to the burning wreckage and the old man trapped inside: that woman's husband, that child's father. _

_His phone rang, vibrating against his leg and it made him jolt, his throat closing up momentarily as sounds of the flames cracked and snapped overhead._

''_llo?' He crocked, knowing who it was._

'_Is it done?'_

_Cloud nodded, before finding his voice._

'_Yeah.' His eyes slid to the woman, wailing hysterically, almost prostrate in the middle of the road, people crouched down next to her trying to pull her away._

'_The bitch too?'_

_Cloud's throat closed up again._

'_She… she's got a kid.' Cloud replied, not wanting to tell the boss he'd flaked._

_Ominous silence extended on forever._

'_I told you I want them both.'_

'_You didn't tell me about the kid.' Cloud replied, feeling anger rise up in him all of a sudden. He was risking his own life, but the words tumbled from him regardless. _

'_It shouldn't make a difference.' The voice replied, levelly, making Cloud shudder._

'_Well it does to me.'_

'_I don't care. This is your job and I ain't askin'.'_

_The line went dead and the phone slipped from Cloud's ear, his eyes trained hard and serious on the woman being pulled to her feet. The kid had been separated, torn away by onlookers standing watching the scene as the woman continued to struggle and fight to get back at the flames. _

_Cloud wiped a clammy hand over his top lip, smelling gasoline and smoke and metal and with his other hand he reached up and felt the object tucked into the waistband of his jeans, tracing the outline of the gun._

_He had less than two minutes._

_Breaking his cover he strode out of the shadows and crossed the orange lit street. Pushing his way through the crowd he shouldered his way to the wailing woman. He stared at her for an age, studying the back of her head and the way her hair fell in long dark locks; the stains on her dressing gown and the smudges of smoke on her skin. He listened to her screeches and cries and let them fill his ears. Her voice was high and pained, scratched and failing as it gave out from the excessive force of the screams. They were horrid but they were real; she was real – alive – and in less than twenty seconds she wouldn't be. Cloud always had a hard time with this part. The lead up to it. The seconds just before. _

_Whipping the gun from behind him, he tightened his grip on the handle, steadying his aim. With a smooth, deep breath in he pulled the trigger, the woman's screams eaten up in a terrifying explosion that ricochet off the surrounding buildings and faded away to nothing. _

_The woman had stopped screaming and only the sounds of the fire consumed the night._

_Suddenly the screaming began again: people, frightened and startled began to dart about, running for cover as Cloud replaced the gun back into his jeans and turned back the way he had come._

* * *

The room was dark when Cloud entered. Although bright autumn light shone around the edges of the blinds, the room was cast in shadow and the figure in the bed slept soundly. As softly as he could, Cloud closed the door behind him and walked around to the other side of the bed, pulling up a chair to sit as he reached out and took Leon's uninjured hand.

Like being jolted from sleep by a troubling dream Leon started, his eyes opening wide with panic before settling on Cloud. He quickly regained his composure, wrinkling his nose and furrowing his brows at the man sat in front of him, framed by fractured sunlight and obscured by the remnants of sleep.

'I didn't want to wake you.' Cloud spoke softly, moving in to reach up and gently trace his thumb over Leon's brow. The light shifted around him and pulled the blond into focus, Leon's frown relaxing as his gaze settled on the younger man sat by his bedside.

'You've been gone all night.' Leon observed his tone neither accusatory or churlish, but level and sedate.

'I know.'

'They let you go?' Leon asked worry clear in the lines of his eyes and the gentle squeeze of his fingers in Cloud's hand.

'For now.' Cloud replied, his own eyes darkening and falling away to stare at the bed sheets.

'You think they'll want to talk to you again?'

'More than likely; you too.' Cloud informed him, a deep and sorrowful look filling his gaze as he looked back at his lover; took in the bruises, the pale skin and the bandages, the oxygen tubing and the monitors. He could kill those bastards all over again.

'You've got that look again.'

Cloud came back to himself and watched how Leon's mouth curved up into a sardonic little smile, his eyes curious and bright, despite his obvious pain.

'Look?' Cloud asked, feeling his heart flutter.

'That faraway look. The one that means I can't reach you.'

Leon's words caused a familiar ache in Cloud's chest. They'd been here before. They'd fought about it and sulked about it, made up after it and pushed it to the back of their minds as they'd fucked. It was the revolving problem: continuously coming back to them only for it to be pushed away again, kept spinning by Cloud's reluctance to talk and Leon's insistent curiosity.

'I think I understand now.' Leon said, a look of similar pain reflected in his own gaze.

'Understand what?' Cloud asked even though he was afraid to hear the answer.

'Why you've been hiding from me all these years.'

'I wasn't hiding, I…'

'Yes you were.' Leon insisted.

Cloud would have continued to argue, but he hadn't the energy to keep on lying. He had been hiding in every sense of the word and they both knew it.

'It wasn't because of you. I wanted to forget and start again. I tried for years but… for some reason I couldn't do it.' Cloud pulled away from Leon, feeling suddenly stifled and claustrophobic.

'I wanted… I didn't know _what_ I wanted.' He stammered, hating that he was so tired – too tired to keep his wretched feelings in check. He could feel them bubbling up. 'And then I found you.'

Close to choking on a sob, Cloud stopped. Leaning back in his chair he reached up and scratched at the back of his head, trying to pull himself together – fighting the urge to unravel and collapse. He'd never been closer to that feeling than he was right now, never more in danger of giving in than he was right in that moment and it terrified him. Where was his control, his mask of indifference, his steel cold reasoning and strength? Where was his wall?

'I think you've been running so long you don't know how to stop.' Leon said, his words cutting through everything that was holding Cloud together. He watched as the younger man struggled, fighting to keep his emotionless mask in place, terrified of being seen for who and what he really was and despite his own brashness – Leon's newfound determination – he too was terrified of what he might find buried deep down in the man he loved so fiercely.

Cloud nodded his head, unable to voice his agreement as he fought with his treacherous emotions. He wanted to say more to reassure Leon, to explain to him but he was a prisoner in his own wretched body, unable to express himself for his deep and abiding fear. Fear of losing control, of losing the life he had built, of losing Leon.

It wasn't the harsh words or the cutting truth of them that caused the blond to finally fracture. It was the tentative and unsure smile on Leon's face as he looked up, expecting to find judgement and anger. Instead he'd found that soft caress of lips and those knowing eyes, the brunet so obviously unsure of what to say or do to make everything alright but he was trying and it broke him. Cloud sniffed and nodded his head, scrubbing at his red rimmed eyes.

'I… I want you to know, before I say anything…' Cloud began, looking up at Leon with large, sorry eyes

'I know, Cloud.' He reassured his lover. 'I know.'

* * *

'_Come here.'_

_The command was soft and careful, the sound of it belied by the dangerous undercurrent and the gun, grasped loosely and aimed casually at the man slumped in the corner of the bathroom. _

_Cloud obeyed, his heart racing as he shifted his weight and stepped over the body of the other guy, the one who had shot his mouth off and forgotten about the consequences. Cloud tried his best to avoid the blood. Out of the corner of his eye he could see their reflections in the polished steel over the sinks, graffiti scratched into the metal._

'_Here, this one's yours.'_

_The gun was offered up to him and Cloud's heart stopped and dropped away, a cold sweat breaking out over his clammy skin. He could feel his hands shaking before he even lifted them to take the shooter, knowing the thing would be solid and heavy in his hands, the handle already warmed. Cloud looked up, his mask of indifference slipping just a touch as he gauged the older man's seriousness, maybe even pleaded with him a little bit as he hesitated to take the gun._

'_What are you waiting for?' The man asked, his tone oily slick and far too calm. It made Cloud shiver, as if a cold breath had passed over his whole body._

'_I ain't ever… I mean… I never-' He began, his pathetic excuse cut in two by the door guy._

'_We aint got time for this shit, just finish him now and let's go. Haze the kid another time.'_

'_I wanna see him do it now.' _

_A hand was placed to the back of Cloud's neck, a subtle yet forceful warning. The gun was pushed into his hands, the weight of it heavy, as he knew it would be, and with a sickening churning in his gut, Cloud wondered if there was still a way out of this. _

'_Now's your chance, kid. I wanna see what you're made of.' _

_The man wore a cocky, triumphant smile and Cloud wanted to wipe it from his face. Turing to the terrified heap in the corner, cowering and snivelling for his life, Cloud felt like joining him. The tears and the tremors held only at bay by a strange sort of transparent wall. He could see it all, pressed up against the surface of the shield, unable to get through and touch him as he raised the gun, his arm curiously steady. He breathed in a long and purifying breath._

_The seconds before. They always bothered him the most._

* * *

'I used to tell people my dad was dead.' Cloud began, his hands placed solemnly in his lap, his eyes misted and far away, mixed with that look Leon hated so much and then a new, achingly sad self-loathing. 'Hell, I hated him so much I even wished he was.'

Leon was sat up in the bed, as comfortable as his shoulder could allow, his intense, piercing grey eyes soaking in every movement, every emotion the blond was too tired to keep in check.

'Truth is he left me and my mom when I was little – too little to even remember him. It's weird,' Cloud said, a small ironic laugh escaping him. 'It's weird hating a guy you can't even remember.' Cloud looked up at Leon, his eyes bright and brilliant with confusion and the downright unfairness of it all. 'He doesn't even have a face. I just… I just know I hate him. For leaving, for not wanting us enough.'

Leon wanted to reach out, to offer some form of comfort even if it didn't really mount up to much in the long run but he stayed his hand, unwilling to break the blond's obvious concentration. With Cloud's emotions so close to the surface, even the slightest of touches could break him.

'I never really liked school much anyway, figured I had the perfect excuse. I played hooky and blamed it on my absent father. Kinda cliché but it worked on my teachers and the police for a while. I started hanging around a garage. The cars were cool and the guys there seemed kinda nice and, I think they even liked having me around. Eventually I got to asking about how they made the cars and they seemed to think that was funny…'

As the blond talked, Leon noticed the slump of his shoulders, and the pattern of his speech. Almost everything about him was shifting, slowly melting and crumbling until an unfamiliar accent became apparent. It was as if the man Cloud had been all these years was being erased, thinned out like paint stripper through oil and beneath him was the man he had always been – the man he had been trying so hard hide. The revelation made Leon feel uncomfortable, as if he was watching a copy of the real Cloud – similar yet betrayed by subtle differences: An imposter. Yet Leon had to remind himself that whoever he thought Cloud had been, the man he had met in that bar, the life they had shared together, that was the lie, and the thought made him feel sick with stupidity and duplicity.

'Gradually it became apparent that they were stealing the parts. By then I liked them so much I wanted in so I started stealing parts too. First they were parts from burnt out cars, stolen cars, abandoned cars, things like that. I used to take a cart around with me, fill it up and push it back at the end of the day and get about 15 munnies for it. After a while I figured I'd save myself some time if I just stole the whole car and brought that in. It paid better.'

Cloud shifted in his chair, the creek of the cheap plastic loud in the viscous air, thick and heavy with secrets and lies only just beginning to unveil themselves.

'I was twelve when I got my first driving job.'

Leon couldn't help himself, his eyes widened and his brows crept up into his hairline, clearly surprised and shocked.

'A guy named Lemuel Saldivar ran the shop, he was in charge of the money that got washed through it and helped out with pick-ups and drop offs. The shop was a front for storing narcotics until they were cool enough to pass along and by the time I'd been hanging out there two years I'd worked enough stolen cars to buy myself a bike. Saldivar liked that it was small and inconspicuous. So I did a job for him. Dropped off some samples and came back with the money upfront. It worked so well it became my new job and I ran drugs for Saldivar for about another year or so before Diego got wind of me.'

Cloud stopped to catch his breath, unused to talking so much about things he'd kept secret for so long. He was clearly having trouble with the memories, sifting through them as they came to him, overcome with remembrance as shadows thought long forgotten came back to remind him that some things never truly disappeared.

'I remember the day he… he took me with him.' Cloud stopped again, swallowing thickly against a throat full of bile and bad memories.

'He took me with him on a job. We were supposed to be collecting, but I could tell from the moment we got in there something wasn't right. I could see it in Diego's face, something had changed and before I knew what these guys were talking about a gun had gone off and these two guys had run off into the back of the bar. Diego must have had it planned from the beginning cos he had guys at every exit. Managed to corner them in the john. First guy went crazy and tried to get past Diego, so Diego put a bullet in his head. He pulled me in after him and handed me the gun.'

Cloud covered his face with his palm and pressed callused fingers into his eyes, desperate to hold back humiliating tears he had the nerve to shed now, after all this time. Managing it, but only by the fraction of an eyelash, he lowered his hand and flooded himself with physical pain, biting his lip with pent up rage and stubborn, misplaced hate. He sniffed wetly and dared a look up through lashes wet with unshed tears at Leon who couldn't bring himself to look at his lover and Cloud felt his heart fracture just the tiniest bit.

'Did you do it?' He heard the brunet ask.

Treacherous silence.

'Yeah, I did it.' Cloud eventually answered, watching the shock and disgust flood Leon's face.

'You killed him?'

Again, Cloud struggled to answer but refused to take his eyes off of the man he loved.

'He wasn't the only one. There were plenty more after him.'

Leon shifted in his bed, his pale and beaten face draining of any remaining colour as he refused to lift his gaze and look at the man he thought he knew. It sickened Leon to think of how easily he had trusted Cloud. How readily he had invited him into his life and allowed him to see secrets and pieces of him that no one else would ever see. All the while, knowing he was lying, knowing he was being dishonest, allowing Leon to fall in love with the lie. The man sat in front of him now was a stranger, a terrible, lying charlatan, a murdering fraud.

Cloud watched the emotions slide over Leon's face and read them as clearly as reading a book. He tried to feel indignant at the man's hypocrisy. Leon had clearly forgotten how Cloud had saved his life the night before, the mortal danger he'd been in, and the fact that he'd be dead right now if it hadn't been for Cloud. Yet despite the circumstances, Cloud could feel nothing but shame and humiliation. He'd brought Leon into this; he had no right to expect him to just accept it. Instead he offered the only defence he could think of, the only one he'd been able to comfort himself with all these years, and the only reason he'd escaped a life sentence once the police had finally caught up with him and offered him that deal.

'I was thirteen years old, Leon.'

The words seemed to clear that nauseated, horrified look from his lover's face and after a few moments of consideration, Leon cautiously lifted his eyes to meet Cloud's.

'I didn't know what I was doing. Diego was nice to me, he paid attention to me,' Cloud knew it wasn't much of an excuse, but in the end, it was the only one he had. 'He called me his kid.'

Outside, a freezing rain and sleet had begun to fall, hitting the windows and pattering against the glass; the sky above a dismal grey, low and heavy clouds with bellies full of winter, waiting to spew it out onto the frigid concrete city.

'He promised he'd look out for me, protect me. I… I'd never had that… I wanted it.'

Leon felt sick with his warring emotions. In his gut, he could barely begin to contemplate the implications of Cloud's actions. He was a killer, and a part of Leon hated himself for being able to fall in love with him. How was it even possible for a murderer to feel that kind of love? Did he even feel it? But in his head, in his heart he knew Cloud had been just a boy. The two thoughts didn't sit well together: murder and children.

'What happened after?' Leon didn't know why he was asking. Maybe he was hoping. Hoping for some kind of reason or justification. Redemption?

'A lot of bad things.' Cloud answered, looking down at his hands folded in his lap. 'I worked for Diego till I was seventeen. My mom passed during that time and after she died I needed him more than ever. I think he knew that. It was like the more my life turned to shit, the bigger he got, the harder it was to say no to him.' Cloud began to feel like he was making excuses and he shifted in his chair, a strange sort of guilt making him squirm. He watched Leon through the endlessly poignant silence and waited for him to say something. Eventually, with a small crease of his brow, Leon stirred and broke the silence.

'Why Hollow Bastion?' He asked, his voice small but solid.

"What?' Cloud asked, thrown off by the unexpected question.

'Why Hollow Bastion? Why me?' Leon asked again. This time the question sounded accusatory. 'You could have gone anywhere, but you chose Hollow Bastion. You chose me.' Leon's eyes were hard and his mouth was set in a grim line. Cloud could see the anger and accusations simmering just below the surface and although they panicked him, he was hardly surprised.

'I… I chose Hollow Bastion because it was a small town. It was quiet. I didn't know anybody and nobody knew me.' Cloud explained, feeling stupidly guilty for wanting that fresh start, for thinking he could ever outrun what he'd done. 'I got tired of moving around. I wanted to settle down. I told myself the next place I went to would be the place. And it was Hollow Bastion. You…' Cloud raised his eyes to catch Leon looking at him, the brunet's gaze hard and unyielding. 'I never planned on you.'

'You didn't do a very good job of staying away, did you?' Leon reminded him.

'I tried.' Cloud told him, wanting him to know just how _much_ he'd tried.

'You could have walked away.' Leon scolded him, openly angry now. 'In the beginning, you could have walked away at any time. But you didn't, you came back. Twice!' Leon's voice had only risen slightly, but his tone was hard and sharp, cutting Cloud as he sat and stared at his feet in shame.

'You've lied to me all these years, Cloud.'

'You were the one who approached me, Leon. Don't forget that.' Cloud reminded him, lashing out against his bitterness. He'd take the blame for his lies and his deceit, but he wasn't prepared to take all the responsibility for their relationship. He'd tried his hardest to stay away. There was no way Leon could know just how hard.

'So I imagined that night you spent with me after those guys trashed my shop?'

'Because I loved you!' Cloud barked, sickened by the memory of those bastards who had hurt Leon and infuriated at having to spell his feeling out for the one man who was supposed to understand him. Even all those years ago, he'd loved him even then.

'I'd never known anyone like you, Leon. You looked at me like you _saw_ me. I… I wanted you! And I… I thought I could put it all behind me. You were supposed to be my fresh start. I never thought for a second that Diego would find me. I never thought for a moment that I'd put you in danger. If I had, then I swear I'd have stayed away. I'd have been gone and you'd have never seen me again.' Cloud was unnerved by Leon's neutral face. He could see neither anger nor acceptance in his eyes as they continued to stare at each other, the silence stretching on.

'I didn't lie to you because I was _trying_ to deceive you. I lied because I didn't want to face what I'd done.'

There was a flicker in Leon's slate grey eyes and with a subtle shift of his brows, Leon's hard and unforgiving features turned soft and regretful.

'You were a kid, Cloud.' He reminded the blond, only just coming to terms with that concept himself; still uneasy with the mortal nature of Cloud's crimes. Painful silence filled the room.

'I'm not gonna lie. It's hard for me to hear what you've done. I… I can't condone it, but… I think… maybe I can understand it. None of it changes the fact that I love you. But you lied to me, Cloud.' Leon explained, finally able to voice that terrible weight that had settle in on his chest from the moment Cloud had begun talking. 'You've lied for so long I feel like I don't know you.'

'I know.' Cloud sniffed, feeling the first real tear track its way down his cheek and hang on the curve of his jaw. He didn't bother to wipe it away. He was tired: in his mind and in his body. He was tired of running and pretending, of trying to be someone he thought he ought to be. He was tired of being strong and tough; he was tired of pretending that he wasn't afraid. He was tired of feeling tired.

'It doesn't matter now anyway.' He muttered lowly. He felt Leon's eyes on him again and his skin prickled, suddenly remembering all of those times Leon's gaze had caressed him in tenderness and love, how his fingers had done the same. 'I have to go.'

'What do you mean?' Leon asked, understanding all too well the blond's shifting emotions and impulsive undercurrent. He was afraid he knew what this meant.

'I have to go.' Cloud repeated himself, unwilling to spell it out any clearer.

'Go where?' Leon asked, his tone fierce and edged with panic.

Cloud looked his lover in the eye, holding his wounded gaze for as long as he could stand, memorising every line of his face and every angle of his features, even though they were distorted in anger. He'd take anything with him, even resentment, so long as it was Leon's.

'If you think that Diego's men will stop just because he's dead then you're crazy. He has a brother. Once he hears about this he'll come after me; he'll come after you. I have to go.' Cloud repeated, seeing panic and fear slide against each other in Leon's icy eyes.

'So that's it, that's the end of it?' Leon snapped, his chest beginning to heave in rage. 'That's the end of us, of everything we've got?'

Cloud's own eyes were hardening, far too used to this mask of cold indifference. It may have been years since he'd worn it, but it still fit him well.

'It has to be.' He replied, already hardening himself against those treacherous feelings.

'What? No, that's not it. We're not done here, Cloud.'

'Yes we are.' Cloud shot back forcefully, hating himself. 'You said it yourself, you don't even know me.'

'I never asked you to leave.' Leon reminded him, already feeling the hate bubbling up at his lover's cowardice.

'You don't have a choice, Leon. I don't have a choice.' Cloud wanted to say more but the words wouldn't come. He alone knew how futile trying to have a normal life would be. With Diego's death he was back to square one, living from one motel to the next. He'd never felt more like giving himself up.

'So you're just going to run?' Leon hissed, heartbreak clear on his face.

_I'm running for you, to keep you safe!_ Cloud thought bitterly, hating that he was hating Leon right now.

'It's what I'm good at.' He replied instead. He didn't want Leon to hate him, but if it kept him safe then all the better.

As if reading his thoughts Leon's features which had been twisted in loathing slowly smoothed out and understanding dawned on him. It didn't quell the rage or the betrayal any, but it doused the fire in his chest and left him curiously numb. The sensation was new to him. He'd always been able to identify his own emotions before and this void, this swell of nothingness that engulfed him, reducing him to nothing but a trembling body was deeply unpleasant. After a time, when he could think of nothing else to say that might change the blond's mind he took a deep breath and allowed that feeling of pure desperation to take hold of him. He loved Cloud, and the thought of losing him left him not even above begging.

'You promised.' He reminded the younger man. 'You promised we'd watch each other's backs.'

Cloud's indifference faulted only a fraction, the pain of Leon's words breaking him just slightly. Before he could allow himself to fall apart entirely, he stood, the chair scrapping the linoleum behind him as he pushed it away. Leon watched him, knowing he'd lost.

'This is different.' Cloud told him.

_This is your life!_

Bending at the waist, Cloud pressed his lips to Leon's forehead, the older man allowing the gesture as he sat frozen in his hospital bed. Unable to help himself, Cloud reached up and cupped Leon's cheek, running the pad of his thumb over the cool skin and felt the brunet shift his face up, aligning their mouths until his lips brushed Cloud's.

Leon had never wanted to get down on his knees and beg someone so hard before in his life, but instead he kissed Cloud, reaching up with his one good hand to grasp the back of his neck and hold him there, praying that he'd never pull away. He felt Cloud's reluctance, the tremor of his hand against his face, and could almost taste the young man's pain on his tongue, but the moment Cloud pulled away a tiny sound of grief broke through Leon's defences and caught in the back of his throat. He clamped his mouth shut, grinding his teeth down hard to stop any more sounds from escaping and let his hand slip from the back of Cloud's neck, his eyes closing in defeat as the blond's fingers left the skin of his cheek feeling cold where he'd touched him. He counted to ten, and when he opened his eyes again Cloud was gone.

* * *

Cid kept checking the rear view mirror every couple of minutes. He'd parked up across the street from the hospital's back entrance and was waiting as patiently as he knew how for the kid to come back out so he could take him home. He'd chosen to stay in the truck so he could smoke, and because he detested hospitals and with a quick glance at his dashboard he huffed a deep sigh of irritation. The kid was taking his time. Glancing again into the mirror, he grunted sharply with relief as he saw the hunched over figure of Cloud come from around the corner of the building.

The sleet and snow had turned to freezing rain and the blond had hunkered down into his hoodie and denim jacket, his hands stuffed deep into his pockets as he looked left and then right, waiting for a gap in the traffic before jogging across the road. As he hopped up onto the other side, he was stopped suddenly by a figure blocking his way; a man taller than Cloud by almost a foot.

Cid squinted hard and furrowed his brows, rolling his cigar from one corner of his mouth to the other as he watched the short exchange and then realised with a sudden jolt of shock what he had just seen.

The man blocking Cloud's path bumped into him, his arm connecting with the blond's stomach, winding him and sending him staggering back just a few steps. Almost as if the man was reaching out to steady the blond he had knocked flying, he placed a hand on his shoulder and brought his hand into Cloud's stomach again, the look on the blond's face shifting from annoyed to blank with shock.

Cid bolted before he'd even realised what was happening. Opening the truck door with a loud pop, he jumped out, his cigar falling from his mouth as he yelled. He felt his legs break into a run, though he felt he was hardly moving at all as he sped towards the two men and he watched as the tall stranger glanced over his shoulder and caught sight of Cid charging towards them.

With one last jab of his arm, the stranger pulled away from Cloud, who stumbled backwards a little ways and lost his footing on the edge of the curb.

Watching as Cloud fell and the tall man fled, Cid came to a screeching stop by the fallen blond, who was lying at the edge of the road in the gutter, his hands grasping desperately at his stomach as he looked down at himself, his face a blank slate of disbelief.

Rushing to his side, Cid knelt and placed his hand over Cloud's, pressing firmly to stem the blood that had soaked his clothes already, panic flooding him in icy waves as he realised there was more than one wound. He felt Cloud squirm underneath him and a chocked breath flecked with blood burst from his lips as his head hit the pavement behind him.

Cid looked up, watching the passers-by watch him as he grappled with the young man and tried to get him to sit up, to stand up, to do anything other than lay there.

'HELP!' He screamed finally. 'HELP ME!'

He felt his uncontrollable panic engulf him as Cloud's squirming grew weaker, his eyes growing less ferocious and determined as he looked up into the pouring sky. He watched as the young man struggled to hold on, his grip growing frailer, the peddling of his legs slowing as he tried to choke out a few last words.

'Shhh, stay still, kid. Help's coming.' Cid promised him, hoping it was true as he looked around again. They were right next to a god damned hospital!

All that came from Cloud's lips were a few chocked gasps and more wet bubbles of blood, a small trail mimicking the tear that had leaked from the corner of his eye. With one more shudder he tried desperately to hold on, gripping with all his strength to Cid's hand as the older man fought to control the bleeding. Blackness engulfed him, seeping across his vision and drowning him in quiet as with a final gasp he went still and the fingers that had held so tightly to Cid's wrist slipped free.

Cid watched him go, the wail of a siren only just breaking through his conscious thought as he saw the last moment of Cloud's life end.

The pattering of the rain was deafening against the concrete.


End file.
